Sunday, November 30, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 5 Comments
It is a curious thing that this question had lay dormant with me for some time and had almost forgotten it altogether until I read this article that I found most interesting reading.
I believe that man unconsciously try to pigeon hole, identify and measure the people around them. One measure that seems to occur most often is to measure a person's success by outward appearances. Whether its clothes, pen in his pocket, the mobile phone he uses, the car he drives - or the watch on his wrist.
My lady friends had it right from the start - the true nature of a man is found written all over his shoes. What he wears on his feet, how he wears it and what condition its in tells a lot about the man.
But between men, rightly or wrongly our initial impression is made from our observation of the trinkets and luxuries we wear. As a famous fashion designer once said, luxury watches today are jewelry for men. So we really cannot seem to help ourselves from measuring each other by our watches.
But unlike the shoe observation - the wristwatch will prove to be a poor measure. There will be just as many middle class gents who own and wear Pateks as there will be those super rich who have them but prefer to wear something pedestrian like a Seiko. Not to mention of course the confusing situation of those wearing the very accurate replica or fake watches.
So my advice is - consciously avoid making conclusions and assumptions about others by their watches. Chances are you would be quite wrong.
- HT
On Wednesday 26th November 2008, Vacheron Constantin hosted a launch party for the new Quai De L'ile - a new line of contemporary timepieces from VC to meet the ever growing demand for bespoke watches. Previously reported here at WH, Vacheron has streamlined its effort to bring value to its collectors by both tailoring watches to meet their collector's whim as to types of precious metals, colour of the dial and crown, straps, lugs and even engraving on the back plate. The new series put together these variable choices by offering to buyers a special software configurator which allows the buyer to try different permutations of the different elements of the watch.
I am expecting an in-depth report from my good friend and moderator from Horomundi Mr Tay Kok Choon but in the meantime, for a glimpse of the launch event, click on the image on the right to view the snaps captured that evening.
- HT
Postscript - CLICK HERE to read the detailed launch report of the VC event by Tay Kok Choon and Raphmeister on the Horomundi Forum.
Post-postscript - The International Herald Tribune published an interesting report on the efforts of brands in the fight against counterfeiting. The Quai De L'ile was cited as an example. Makes for interesting reading as it seems that the security measures does not stop the counterfeiters from already selling fake Quai De L'ile seen on the streets of China.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
This question came up as I read these comments from the last update (see below).
I am reminded of the overused phrase of the nineties - convergence. When businesses find themselves out of ideas, they tend to experiment differing degrees of convergence of some elements of their business process, method or product to reinvent themselves. I can only think of a small handful of successful converged products and one of them is the merger of electronic diaries to mobile phones to create the ubiquitous 'smartphones' of today. Gone are the Filofaxes of the 80s.
Is the pocket watch/mobile phone yet to be a failure or the next evolutionary step for the smartphone? While I completely agree with the comments made earlier that consumers will not bite the Tag Heuer or Vertu products, the watch industry is cognisant of how the Gen Y use their mobiles not just for communications but as entertainment as well as a multifunction tool including telling of the time.
Maybe both Tag and Vertu are targeting at a very small high end niche market but clearly this may be a sign that in the near future Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, LG et al to produce mobile phones with the added separate feature of Time Display for the general mass market.
But I suspect for the hordes of watch collectors, such new technologies will not displace the look and feel of a well made luxury timepiece on the wrist.
- HT
Postscript: Jack Forster coincidentally reported at length about the Vertu mobilephone on Horomundi. CLICK HERE to read his report.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 6 Comments
Seen for the first time at Baselworld 2008 Tag launched its new line of products that is not a watch but a mobile phone targetted at the Vertu niche of customers. Made from quality materials that rival the Vertu mobile phones with a price tag at over 2650 sterling pounds. With scratch resistant crystal and hypoallergenic steel and top leather backs, this phone that also includes a digital time display (always on) shaped in the familiar Tag design in sharp line close to its most popular fashion watches.
With fashion and pen brands going into watches and watch brands expanding into other markets, Tag is certainly quite ambitious to venture into the highly exclusive Vertu mobile phone niche.
Its curious that it may be coincidental but with the global economy in a downturn, it may well be a common sight to see well known brands expanding their products lines to keep rolling in the profits to capitalise on renowned brand names.
- HT
Friday, November 21, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 2 Comments
After months of waiting, fans and buyers of the the Hour Glass Sinn U-Black (aka U-Stealth) will not have to wait much longer as the first batch arrived for the customers.
Here are the first photographs of this watch on the wrist - of the final production model being delivered.
Sinn had improved some of the small details in response to feedback given earlier on their final mock-up which includes printing the date numbers with grey (albeit not as dark as the rest of the other markers), improving on the lume quality which is now surprisingly bright green in the dark. Finally the best and unexpected improvement is that the black deployant is now fully tegimented - which means the black coating should withstand daily wear and tear.
My congratulations to Hour Glass and Sinn for putting together such a fine and desirable watch and I am sure the new owners will find this piece as handsome and enduring as I do.
To view the photomontage of the wrist shots, click on the image above which should launch a separate browser. Simply press F5 key to resize the montage to fit the browser.
- HT
Saturday, November 15, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 5 Comments
Singapore Press Holdings launched a new magazine on watches for women called 24/7 earlier in Sept this year. While it claims to be the first "English language Watch Magazine for Women", technically that claim goes to CAKE magazine - by the publishers of the respected Revolution magazine. Revolution has garnered a world wide distribution and is translated into foreign languages for the international market. Cake has yet to achieve the same level of success but it was certainly the first English watch magazine for women in Singapore. For an island of over 6 million people, we are certainly well serviced by at least one dozen local and regional watch magazines and another dozen internationally. Our market seemed insatiable for all things pertaining to watches early last year but with the financial crisis yet to see the beginning of the end, it is rather surprising that SPH would launch a magazine in such troubled times.
Notwithstanding, CAKE and 24/7 has recognised that there is a growing sophistication of women collectors in Singapore and the region and the time is ripe to harvest these collectors as subscribers for the new magazine.
To read the press release, just click on the image on the right.- HT
Friday, November 14, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
The British Financial Times published its Watches & Jewellery supplement on Nov 8 and is now available online. With its distinctive authoritative style the FT published some very insightful articles which will be of interest to any serious watch collectors today. Click on the image above to download the article. However be warned that the file is 37mb and would suggest using broadband or risk being cut off during downloads on dial up accounts.
- HT
- HT
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
Forbes Asia is organising a conference/forum from 4-5 December 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - focussing on the global market for luxury timepieces and the challenges for the industry in these financially difficult times.
It will feature panel discussions featuring many familiar names from the watch community including Dr Bernard Cheong from Singapore. Some of the topics include how to become a great collector of watches; what goes into a great watch; the latest trends in the industry and the role of watches in the global luxury market.
Attendance at the Forum is by invitation only - so do visit the official site to sign up. Click on the image above to visit their conference site.
- HT
Monday, November 10, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
While I was redesigning the bannerhead of WatchingHorology.com, I included links on the right column here to Google translations of this site for the benefit of collectors who are not familiar with English.
In recent past, I had received numerous request for non English translations as well as permission to translate my material into other languages. Realising that Google has a wonderful language tool (albeit not perfect and in some cases, the essence of the text is lost in translation) I figured that providing a link direct from my site could benefit more people.
So thanks to the very useful Google translation service - I hope visitors from all over the world can now enjoy the site in their own language or at least in another language that they are comfortable with.
Other small changes will be added incrementally to the site including advertisements. I hope that the changes will add on to the enjoyment of the site for all my regular visitors. Do continue to send me your suggestions on how I can improve my site.
- HT
P.S. About a couple of weeks ago, WatchingHorology passed the 500k hit mark from about 280k unique visitors - from the day it was first launched. I hope that my site will continue to be a place where watch collectors will be able to enjoy a visit.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 3 Comments
On halloween night, Vacheron hosted a small soiree (reported earlier) to celebrate the evening by bringing together a small group of familiar friends from the watch community here. Amongst the many VC watches worn that night, here are the non-VC watches I found on their wrists.
Of these significantly I found some of my own favourite models. There were three IWC Portuguese variants and vintage IWC pilot and pocket watch, Patek Nautilus Chronograph, FP Journe Octa, RG Lange 1, Vianney Halter Classic RG and RG Ulysee Nardin Freak. All these I would wish to have in my own collection. Click on the image above to view the photomontage of these beautiful watches.
- HT
PS - My grateful thanks to the owners of these fine timepieces for letting me photograph them at the dinner party. All of them had asked to remain anonymous.
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
Here is a photomontage of my favourite selection of the 2008 collection shown at the small collector's soiree reported earlier. Click on the image above to launch the photomontage in a separate window. Hope you enjoy this set of images. Normally I am not a fan of jewelled watches but the fine work on this tourbillon piece cannot be faulted. I would have preferred a non jewelled piece of coures but since I am always open to photographing new pieces, I think the piece turned out quite nicely in the captures.
- HT
Thursday, November 06, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
Recently on Halloween night, Vacheron Constantin organised a small gathering of collectors and friends to enjoy a night of wine and food at the Clarke Quay. Guests were shown the complete 2008 collection. Here are just three models I photographed that night showing off a few of the latest watches for both men and ladies. Click on the images above to see the high resolution versions.
I will be filing the complete photo report the VC watches shown that night very shortly so do come back soon.
- HT
Monday, November 03, 2008
posted by Harry SK Tan 0 Comments
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